Information Communication Technology (ICT) has broadened the reach of both technology and information to common people and transformed the very nature of communication itself. The proliferation of ICTs into personal, social and cultural spaces has given rise to a large number of digital and cyber citizens. With the active engagement of the global development agenda setting actors such as the World Bank, ICT is now set to influence the discourse on development itself, which calls for introspection. The World Development Report 2016 of the World Bank will be on the theme of ‘Internet for Development’. It proposes to explore the impact of internet and digital technologies on development. It bemoans that internet is yet to reach most of the world’s poor, though 6.8 of 7.3 billion people in the world have some access to digital signal and hence the theme – internet for development. For those who are grappling with the ground realities of declining access to basic human services and alienation from life-saving resources, the puzzle of juxtaposing internet and development probably will appear far more complex and confusing. Even as the old paradoxes of development and discourses of accountability and governance continue unresolved, transition to internet linked development poses more questions than answers. The paradigm of development that is already being pushed and pursued has promoted inequitable growth and has globalised poverty and social exclusion of subaltern communities. Such development has resulted in poor growth in human development indices, very marginal and inconsistent improvement in access to public services (such as access to water and sanitation during 1990 – 1 2013) while at the same time, the spread of mobile phones, internet and mobile broadband has literally seen quantum leaps in the last one decade. So will the internet access redefine poverty and development? One cannot be dismissive of the contributions of technology in adding speed to the spinning of ideas and edge to the communication and decision making processes. However, with technology taking the centre stage in development discourse, one should be watchful as to which way the balance will tilt! Will it supplement efforts to access health care, enhanced human dignity and fix accountability of the duty bearers responsible for implementing constitutional provision of right to health care? Or will the techno-managerial efficiency agenda again override inclusion and participation in development? In other words, even if technology reaches the most marginalised, will it automatically translate into more access to water, food and nutrition, education and health? Will it mean more human dignity and substantial increase in the accountability quotient of the government? Will the people be able to control technology that they are handling and consequently exercise more autonomy over their lives? Or will it pave the path for commerce and business to take over the lives of the poor and marginalised? Glimpses of hope come to us through some commendable efforts of using technology for better governance, transparency and accountability processes by way of election watch, anti-corruption campaign and so on, under the broad umbrella of amplifying social accountability. Experiments with ICT in South Asia and Latin American regions have made use of accessible and available technology in the community for enhancing the processes of social accountability by the citizens. COPASAH believes and argues that technology is subservient to human agency which can be employed as an effective tool for facilitating social processes of accountability and empowerment and NOT a replacement to community processes of human agency. The line of discretion between the two is wafer-thin which the global players often forget to remember!.1
1.http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/Publications/WDR/WDR%202016/WDR2016_overview_presentation.pdf, last accessed May, 2015
About the Author:
Edward Premdas Pinto is the Global Secretariat Coordinator for COPASAH. As an Advocacy and Research Director at Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ), India, he facilitates the thematic area of social accountability with a special focus on processes of community monitoring and accountability in health. He also coordinates the South Asia region for COPASAH. He is a Human Rights advocate and Public Health practitioner- scholar, actively engaged in processes and social justice issues of the communities of Dalit Women, rural unorganized labourers and other disadvantaged communities for the last 22 years.
